iPads could be a critical tool for cardiovascular marketers – especially in the area of physician recruitment.
Medical companies are distributing thousands of iPad tablet computers to salespeople to spice up their pitches to doctors.
According to the Wall Street Journal, companies like Medtronic Inc., Abbot Laboratories and Boston Scientific Corp. say the tablet computers offer new ways to display product information or surgical-implant techniques and eliminate time wasted on issues that don’t drive sales. Their quick start-up times allow sales people to get into their presentations before doctors lose interest.
“[The iPad] enables our sales employees to do a much better job of engaging in a really different way than we’ve done before,” Mike Hedges, chief information officer of Medtronic, said in an interview.
Medtronic, a leading maker of implantable heart devices and other products, recently bought 4,500 iPads for its sales and marketing team, making it one of the iPad’s biggest corporate buyers. Mr. Hedges said the company could buy as many as 6,000 iPads.
Before making the purchases, Mr. Hedges said he had attended a dinner with several cardiologists when one asked about Medtronic’s drug-eluting stent. Normally, the conversation would have shifted to another topic, but one of his salesmen quickly pulled out his iPad with the product information, which kicked off several hours of discussion.
“Try pulling out a PowerPoint from your briefcase or from a piece of paper,” Mr. Hedges said.
Mr. Hedges makes a good point. Our clients are often looking for ways to strengthen physician recruiting and outreach efforts — striving for that perfect balance of relationship building and information sharing. The iPad offers an excellent platform to quickly present data in an engaging way.
Taking a cue from the device companies could be a smart strategy for 2011.
Posted by Julie Robinson 
